Star bright, Christmas lights

Star bright, Christmas lights, originally uploaded by shuma.rani.

chistmas lights on South Molten street

Tis is the season for sharing

After yesterday's cooking frenzy, I soon realised the cake I baked was way too big for me eat all by myself - as if I would that ;). I could rely on my housemates to help out, but there is only so much they can eat! So, I packed up half of the cake with a few paper plates and plastic folks; and off to work I went.

I don't think I've mentioned it before, but the department I work in loves food, I mean looooooooooves food. So, any excuse to bring in cakes, chocolates and biscuits is never ignored. So, not only did we have my cake today, but one colleague brought in homemade Italian biscotti and another colleague brought in mini mince pies.

Like I said before - 'Tis is the season for sharing' or in my department's case that's an all year round excuse.

Gastronomic Sunday

So, spent most of yesterday doing absolutely nothing - which was sheer bliss. Although, today was a different story. It's been a good while since I cooked at home and so decided to bake a cake and make a spiced lamb stew to beat the winter blues away.

The morning started with a simple breakfast of toast with a quarter sliced tomato garnished with black pepper and a pinch of salt.

Preparing the Bramley apples for the cinnamon, apple and pecan nut cake.

Mixture poured into the baking tin and ready for the oven to be baked for an hour or until it has risen.

Time for a cinnamon latte while the cake bakes. It's hard being a domestic goddess!

Voila - homemade baked cinnamon, apple and pecan nut cake. The house was filled with spice and cinnamon fragrances, perfect for a cold day.

Time for a short break. Went to the cinema to watch Where the Wild Things Are

Highly recommend it - brings back memories of being a child.

Back home and refreshed; and ready for the next part of the cooking. I have a spiced lamb stew bubbling away on the hob.

Spiced lamb stew with couscous served for moi....yummy!

A small slice of cake for dessert (good thing I had a small lunch)

Decided to share some of the cake with colleagues and so, have boxed up half the cake to take to work tomorrow. I'm stuffed and tired; time for bed...night night.

Why I love London....

Well, you think it's going to be a quite night in at home, but then your friend tells you that Yolanda Brown is playing at the Jazz Cafe in Camden. And you say to yourself, why not, you have nothing planned for night and it's all about living for the moment. I had no idea who she is, but was pretty excited to find out that she is a saxophonist.

So, I arrive and the performance has started - thanks to the London tubes! And, I'm blown away by amazing music and the excellent crowd. She plays music from her old and new album (I managed to record a small video of her); and her band is absolutely amazing too. The performance finishes just after 11pm and then Choice FM's DJ Calvin Francis plays some old skool soul music and dancing begins. I call it night after three songs, much to my friend's disappointment, my feet hurt after standing through all of Yolanda's show and its time for rest.

This is why I love London - there is always something to do. Although, today is totally different and have said no to some other friends. I just feel like hanging out in my side of town.